‘Super Mario Maker’: Nintendo Releasing Babymetal-Themed Costume
Super Mario Maker has received a good deal of downloadable content support from Nintendo since its launch on Wii U last year. However, Nintendo has confirmed that Super Mario Maker is set to receive it’s most obscure downloadable content yet, in the form of a costume themed around a Japanese heavy metal band, Babymetal.
According to Nintendo News, a new costume and event course inspired by Babymetal will be available to download in Super Mario Maker from this evening. The Super Mario Maker costume that fans will be able to integrate into their courses will feature all three members of the band, including Su-metal, Yuimetal, and Moametal. It’s believed that the costume will work in a similar way to Super Mario Maker‘s previously released DLC, allowing Wii U gamers to play as members of the band in Super Mario Maker, coupled with original sound effects to match.
Babymetal is a music group likely unknown to players of Super Mario Maker in the west, which makes their admission to the game even more intriguing. According to IGN, Babymetal is best described as a fusion of Heavy Metal and J-Pop, which undeniably makes for an interesting mix. Either way, the band is incredibly popular in Japan, which likely goes some way in explaining their latest collaboration with Nintendo.
Alongside the announcement of new downloadable content for Super Mario Maker from Nintendo was a video of the new content in action, as is custom with new content for the game along with a short video of Babymetal talking about their appearance in the game. As you can imagine, that was a video packed full of Japanese charm from the trio, who even recorded sound effects to be used within the game. However, it remains to be seen whether or not Babymetal are fans of Super Mario Maker or Nintendo.
The new Babymetal downloadable costume for Super Mario Maker is set to be available in Japan very shortly, but there’s been no word from Nintendo as of yet whether or not it will be available outside of the region.
Babymetal costume coming to Super Mario Maker: https://t.co/6DXXZe8IHj pic.twitter.com/sgnPhPvwnk
— pKjd (@pKjd) April 27, 2016
Nintendo has also been reluctant to provide any details around exactly why Babymetal-themed downloadable content is heading to Super Mario Maker, leading many to believe that this could be a promotional deal between Nintendo and the band. Nintendo is, of course, no stranger to bringing promotional content to its games. In the past, the company has released downloadable content for the Wii U release of Mario Kart 8, which brought with it a range of Mercedes Benz vehicles that could be driven within the game. As you can imagine, Nintendo doesn’t actually charge users for any downloadable content that they’ve clearly been paid to promote in their games.
Super Mario Maker itself is a very different game from Nintendo. It was released in September, 2015, allowing Wii U owners to design their own Super Mario levels, completely changing the way the game is played. Following the release, the game received a good deal of critical acclaim for its creative take on the platforming genre, but its release on the largely unsuccessful Wii U was seen as something of a wasted opportunity on Nintendo’s part.
Seven months following the release of Super Mario Maker, and Nintendo is continuing to support the title with regular downloadable content releases such as this one. It remains to be seen exactly how long Nintendo will continue support for Super Mario Maker, but with their track record taken into consideration, players of the game could be receiving a good deal of new content for a while to come yet. Well, until the release of the Nintendo NX, that is.
[Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images]
